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KTM Super Duke

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Spy photos of the KTM 1290 Super Duke are nothing new, and the Austrian company has even gone as far as to tease us with a heavily massaged KTM 1290 Super Duke R prototype at the 2012 EICMA show. With the final version of the superbike-powered streetfighter expected to be decidedly less edgy, the photo brought to us today (one can only guess when it was taken), if anything else, is a reminder to be reluctant our expectations.

The ever elusive “spy” photo, what we have here looks to be a near production prototype of the KTM 1290 Super Duke that has been caught in the wild. Easily the clearest photo we have seen of the road-going bike, it clearly holds KTM’s LC8 motor as well as the same trellis frame found on the “beast” prototype.

According to its leaked product road map, KTM is due to upgrade the SuperDuke for the next model year (meaning we should start seeing “spy photo” teasers any day now). Designated at the KTM Super Duke R 1290, we can only assume that the new model from Austria will feature a v-twin motor fits in the 1,200cc displacement category, though KTM has been notorious about having its number designations not quite lining up with the bike’s actual displacement.

For 2014, the Super Duke R 1290 will be the basis of another model, the KTM Adventure 1290, which will update the current KTM Adventure 990, and bring KTM more in-line with the offerings from BMW, Ducati, Yamaha, etc.

While we wait for those exciting new models from Team Orange, Italian industrial designer Micro Sapio has penned this concept of a KTM SuperDuke 1200 R. Unfortunately, all we have is the front and back shots, which make fully-appreciating the renders a bit of a challenge.

Of course the orange-painted steel trellis frame pops, though we are not a huge fan of the headlight being used here. However, the low-slung exhaust and single-sided swingarm are nice touches.  Your thoughts?

The news coming out of Holland this morning is that KTM is working on a new set of Super Duke and Adventure series motorcycles, slated to appear in 2012 as 2013 model year bikes. The news comes from Dutch site Nieuwsmotor, who talked to Robert Prielinger, Head of Development / R & D of Street Bikes at KTM, while visiting the KTM factory, and according to Prielinger KTM is working on a new v-twin motor and electronics package that will see introduction into the Super Duke and Adventure lines by 2013. Also new for the 2013 Super Duke line is a new single-cylinder engine model, which will pick up where the KTM 690 Super Duke left off.